Website Review: The Imperial War Museum

The English writer Thomas Hardy once remarked that "War makes rattling good history; but Peace is poor reading." His idiom succinctly surmises the public's interest in the Imperial War Museum in London, and its branches in Duxford, Trafford, and Belfast. At the request of Sir Alfred Mond, the British government established the Imperial War Museum on March 5, 1917, at the height of World War One. The museum was originally designed to house items and artifacts related to First World War, but since its foundation the museum has altered its mission to preserve the history of "all military operations in which Britain or the Commonwealth have been involved since August 1914" (Imperial War Museum Website). The three branches of the museum house some ten million objects and artifacts relating to British military history, and approximately two million visitors from Britain and around the world come to the museums each year. The Imperial War Museum's website assists visitors by providing them with information concerning the museum's exhibits, activities, shops, and a data-base that allows users to quickly search through the museum's extensive collections.

The Imperial War Museum collection contains thousands of artifacts that visitors routinely expect to see in a military museum; including, uniforms, equipment, weapons, and even vehicles like tanks and airplanes. These impressive artifacts make up a good portion of the public displays, but the museum's collection also houses an extensive archives. Other objects artifacts in the collection include photographs, films, records, letters, and even artwork and posters, all related to the military history of Great Britain. The collection is demonstrative of the brutal nature of the wars in the twentieth century, as well as the ways these wars have affected British culture and society. But the sheer volume of artifacts and information can be overwhelming to visitors, and frustrating to researchers attempting to find specific materials.

Museums around the world have used the internet to make their collections more accessible to the public and those who are not able to travel to the museum. To further expand the public's access to the material in the collection, the Imperial War Museum's website includes a function that allows any visitor to the website the ability to search through a data-base of the collection materials, allowing anybody to efficiently search the museum's catalogue. Historians and other academics doing research can find and access the items in the collection, even if they are not able to come to the museum in person.

The Imperial War Museum's website provides users with many of the same features and information that other museums websites provide, such as admissions information and an online gift shop, but the website's collection data-base is the site's most practical tool. The museum's collection data-base offers interested members of the public and professionals easy access to the museum's entire collection, and moves visitors' experiences beyond the museum's public displays and exhibits.

Work Cited
The Imperial War Museum Website. The Imperial War Museum. http://www.iwm.org.uk/